Chapter 7 - What Ryan Was Looking For
I didn’t cry.
That surprised me.
Maybe I had used every tear I had at the hospital.
I stared at the photograph until Ryan’s face stopped looking like my husband.
Then I inserted the flash drive into Naomi’s encrypted laptop.
It asked for a password.
We tried my birthday.
My mother’s birthday.
Grace.
Nothing.
Luka picked up the photograph.
“Your father always liked puzzles?”
“He hated them.”
“Then the password probably isn’t complicated.”
I looked at the number on the safe-deposit box.
317.
I typed it.
The drive opened.
There were seventeen folders.
M-01.
M-02.
All the way through M-17.
Most were encrypted.
M-17 wasn’t.
Inside were payment records.
Clinic logs.
Employee names.
And one video.
I pressed play.
My father appeared on screen.
He looked exhausted.
“Claire, if you are watching this, then I either ran out of time or someone forced me underground.”
My throat tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
“I should have told you sooner.”
“But once Ryan entered your life, I couldn’t tell whether warning you would protect you or make you a target.”
I covered my mouth.
Dad continued.
“M-17 concerns genetic material taken without informed authorization and used as leverage against a family with significant financial and political influence.”
Luka stared at the screen.
“My investigation began with Luka Moretti.”
“But it did not end with him.”
Dad leaned closer to the camera.
“Ryan Bennett knows that.”
“He also knows M-17 contains evidence capable of putting several people in prison.”
Luka glanced at me.
The video continued.
“If Ryan begins searching your home, he is not looking for M-17 itself.”
“He is looking for the second ledger.”
The screen went black.
“Second ledger?”
I whispered.
Naomi opened another file.
A list of payments appeared.
Ryan Bennett had received six transfers from a company named HMR Consulting.
The combined total was $840,000.
I knew that company.
Ryan had told me HMR was one of his largest clients.
Luka knew something else.
“HMR stands for Hale Medical Research.”
My stomach turned.
Ryan hadn’t merely known the clinic.
The clinic had been paying him.
My phone buzzed.
Ryan.
I almost rejected the call.
Then Luka said, “Answer it.”
I put it on speaker.
Ryan didn’t bother pretending anymore.
“Claire, you need to give Moretti the drive and walk away.”
I looked at Grace asleep beside me.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t understand what your father started.”
“I understand you were paid $840,000.”
Silence.
Then Ryan spoke quietly.
“You opened the drive.”
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“Then ask Luka about Room 614.”
Luka’s face changed.
Ryan laughed softly.
“He didn’t tell you about that, did he?”
The call ended.
I turned toward Luka.
May you like
“What happened in Room 614?”
For the first time since I met him, Luka Moretti looked like a man who didn’t want to answer me.
